All Forum Posts by: Mike D'Arrigo

@Account Closed I don't see anything for home insurance. Also, it looks to me like you're planning on renting out both the bottom and the top. I presume the utilities aren't metered seperatly, so if that's the case, they will have to be landlord paid. You may be able to bump the rent up if the tenant isn't paying for utilities but that's something you need to build in to your assumptions.

@Cindy West The first thing that jumps to mind is that deal #1 is a much larger renovation and is not in your home market. Deal #2 is a smaller renovation and is in your home town. I would say that if deal #1 was the smaller project I would recommend that one, but my concern would be doing an $80,000 renovation from oout of state. How do you intend to manage that? You'd be taking on  substantial risk.

@Matt Smith These are all good questions but they are questions that anyone contemplating building a 50 unit apartment building should have to ask. Not to rain on anyone's parade but this is biting off way more than a new investor can possibly chew. You have to walk before you can run. 

@Sandra B. I would say that you are more than financially prepared. What markets have you been looking at where you're seeing negative returns? Some markets like CA and other high cost markets just don't cash flow. The other possibility is that you are being overly conservative on your assumptions. It's good to be conservative but your assumptions need to be as realistic as possible. If you want to message me with what kind of assumptions you're using for expenses and what markets you're looking at, I'd be happy to take a look and give you my throughts.

@David Hill That really depends on your objectives and what you're comfortable with. If you're goal is to scale quickly and generate a significant amoount of cash flow, multi families are the better way to go. There's going to be some differences in how you estimate revenue and expenses so make sure you understand that. 

@Taylor Cain

Hi Taylor and welcome to BP. I think you'll find this a great forum. Feel free to reach out if you'd like any advice. Always glad to help.

@James Potter the main thing you want to be careful is having multiple inquires. Credit inquries will lower your score. It used to be that all inquiries in a 30 day period are counted as 1 inquiry because the bureaus understand that people shop rates. I've been told that that has been reduced to 15 days but I'm not sure. You should check with the lenders. 

@Zeliang Zheng What kind of appreciation are you looking for? If you're looking for high appreciating markets, they may not be good cash flow markets and you probably won't get the 1% rent ratio that you're looking for. The trick is balancing cash flow and appreciation. Do you have a target in mind? That will determine what is the best market for you.